Theoretical Mantle Dynamics

Geodynamics is the study of the deformation and flow of the solid Earth and other planetary interiors. Focusing on the Earth's mantle, this book provides a comprehensive, mathematically advanced treatment of the continuum mechanics of mantle processes and the craft of formulating geodynamical models to approximate them. Topics covered include slow viscous flow, elasticity and viscoelasticity, boundary-layer theory, long-wave theories including lubrication theory and shell theory, two-phase flow, and hydrodynamic stability and thermal convection. A unifying theme is the utility of powerful general methods (dimensional analysis, scaling analysis, and asymptotic analysis) that can be applied in many specific contexts. Featuring abundant exercises with worked solutions for graduate students and researchers, this book will make a useful resource for Earth scientists and applied mathematicians with an interest in mantle dynamics and geodynamics more broadly.

Neil M. Ribe is a Senior Researcher with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, working at the FAST laboratory in Orsay. He has held visiting positions at the Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris, the Earthquake Research Institute of the University of Tokyo, and the University of Cambridge. His research interests include fluid mechanics, geodynamics, and the history of science, and he has contributed chapters in the Treatise on Geophysics (2015) and Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics.